


The Wise Fisherman and the Impatient Genie

by ETNMystic



Series: Mystic's Tales (Because Scheherazade is gorgeous in ETN, okay?!) [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, aka how to outwit a genie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29531901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETNMystic/pseuds/ETNMystic
Summary: A tale in which patience truly is a virtue.
Series: Mystic's Tales (Because Scheherazade is gorgeous in ETN, okay?!) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169567
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The Wise Fisherman and the Impatient Genie

A long time ago, in a magical land, there lived a poor fisherman. He had no money, hardly any food, and slept in a tent by the riverside. One day, as he was fishing, a strange lamp floated by. The fisherman picked it up and saw that there was some seaweed on it. So he rubbed it off. At that moment, a genie emerged from the lamp. He told the fisherman that he would grant him 3 wishes. The fisherman thought this over, and finally decided that his first wish shall be to have the power to summon fish at will so that he might be able to eat. The genie granted him the wish and the fisherman willed for a school to come by. At that moment, a school of carp appeared floating down the river, and the man caught 17 carp that day. The genie asked him for his second wish, but the fisherman told the genie that he needed more time to think. And so the genie told the fisherman that he would wait in his lamp and to rub it when he was ready.

Ten years went by and the man had not yet rubbed the lamp. The genie went to check on him. He found that the man had become a successful fish merchant. He now had money to buy himself a house and more fishing gear. So the genie went to the man and asked him if he'd thought of his second wish. The fisherman said that he hadn't, and still needed more time to think. So the genie said he would wait five more years in his lamp, by which time he would re-emerge and ask for his second wish. 

Five years went by and there was nothing from him. The genie popped out to check and found out that the man now had a wife and a loving family to share his house with. The genie asked him if he'd thought of his second wish and the fisherman said he still needed more time to think. The genie said that he would wait two and a half more years, by which time he would ask for the wish. 

Two and a half years went by and he heard nothing. So the genie went to check on him. He found that the man had become famous. He'd even gained the attention of the king, to which he fumed. Around this time, the fisherman began to wonder why this genie was so persistent, and so he went to a local wizard to ask him. The wizard told him that the reason the genie was so impatient was that he had a quota to finish, and this fisherman was his final number. Once the third and final wish was made, the genie would be set free, and the fisherman would take his place. Of course, this frightened the fisherman so, and he asked if there was a way that he could keep that from happening; the wizard told him that if he could trick the genie into staying away from him, then he would have to restart his quota.

So that night, the man went to the riverside and summoned the genie. He told him that he had his second wish; his wish was to go to a temple that had a chalice that would give its bearer amazing power. He took the genie lamp with him and traversed the temple for three days before he found it. At that point, he told the genie his third and final wish. He wished that the genie would be stuck inside the temple forever, for it to be sealed up, and that the fisherman would go free. Of course, the genie had no choice but to grant this wish, much to his anger. The fisherman threw the lamp into a river by the temple before he summoned a school of fish to take him back home. The fish flew him back to his house, and he never saw the genie again.


End file.
